The big devil in table tennis

With a bang, the opponent hit the ball directly at the critical moment, making the score 4:2

This made Xu Xin and Shao Jie, who were originally full of confidence, panic.

Xu Xin and Shao Jie looked at each other and saw a hint of panic in each other's eyes.

The audience on the sidelines seemed to have noticed the change in atmosphere, and noisy discussions gradually spread.

Xu Xin took a deep breath and clenched his racket.

She tried to calm herself down, but her palms were sweating uncontrollably. Shaojie came over and whispered, "Don't worry, we still have a chance."

However, in the next few rounds, there were obvious problems with their coordination.

Xu Xin's return was too powerful and went directly out of bounds; Shaojie's smash was also easily blocked by the opponent.

Xu Xin gritted his teeth, stood in front of the stage again, and his fingers unconsciously rubbed the rubber of the racket.

There was a glimmer of pride in the other person's eyes, as if he had seen through their panic.

"Hold steady, don't rush!" Shaojie reminded in a low voice, but there was also a hint of tension in his voice.

Xu Xin served the ball, flicked his wrist, and the ball spun and flew towards the opponent's table.

However, this time, he failed to control the strength well, the ball went too fast and did not spin enough.

The opponent player sneered, seized the opportunity and hit the ball back, and the ball hit Xu Xin's backhand like lightning.

Xu Xin hastily turned sideways and tried to return the ball, but the ball bounced high.

"Bang!" The opponent dunked without hesitation, and the ball hit the table heavily, 4:3

There was a commotion in the audience seats on the sidelines; some people shook their heads and sighed, while others cheered excitedly.

Sweat beads appeared on Xu Xin's forehead. He raised his hand to wipe it, but his palms felt so wet that he could hardly hold the racket.

Shaojie's expression also became solemn, and a hint of anxiety flashed in his originally confident eyes.

When it was the opponent's turn to serve, the opponent was already holding the ball and lightly tapped it twice in front of the table.

The corners of his mouth rose slightly, and his eyes were filled with confidence and composure.

Xu Xin could feel his heartbeat quickening, and his eardrums throbbing with his pulse.

"Snapped!"

A serve with strong sidespin came like a venomous snake, the ball drew a strange arc on the table and went straight to Xu Xin's forehand corner.

Xu Xin instinctively stepped forward, but at the moment of swinging the racket, she hesitated - should she make a light transition or attack with force?

This fatal hesitation completely distorted her movements.

The moment the racket touched the ball, Xu Xin's wrist unconsciously increased strength, trying to make up for his previous hesitation.

However, this added force completely disrupted the rhythm of the shot, and a strange "hissing" sound was made when the rubber came into contact with the ball.

The ping-pong ball bounced high like a wild horse, drawing an exaggerated parabola in the air.

Xu Xin watched the ball pass over his opponent's head in despair.

"Bang!" The sound of the ball hitting the backboard was particularly harsh in the quiet venue.

There was a sudden burst of exclamations in the audience, some people gasped, and some shook their heads regretfully.

Xu Xin stood there in a daze, his racket hanging limply at his side. He could feel the sweat on his back soaking through his competition uniform.

Shaojie wanted to say something but swallowed it back and just patted Xu Xin's shoulder hard.

This simple action made Xu Xin feel even more guilty. She felt Shaojie was also trembling slightly.

The coach's face on the sidelines was so gloomy that it seemed like water was about to drip out of it, and the tactical board in his hand was squeaking.

What's worse, the other player was looking at them with a half-smile, the look of a hunter appreciating the struggle of his prey made Xu Xin's stomach ache.

The scarlet 4:4 on the scoreboard was like an unhealed wound, and the overhead lights in the venue cast dazzling spots of light on the plastic floor.

Xu Xin's racket turned a circle in his palm, and the rubber particles rubbed against his sweaty fingertips.

The afterimage of that outrageous out-of-bounds ball just now still remained on her retina, just like the fatal mistake in the previous final.

Then, "tap, tap." The opponent hit the ball rhythmically, and the sound of the rubber hitting the table surface was amplified like drumbeats in Xu Xin's ears.

When the ball was thrown up, he saw the opponent's wrist make an unnatural wrist-turning motion.

"It's reverse rotation!" The moment this judgment exploded in my mind, it was already too late.

The ping-pong ball hit the corner of the table with a strange arc, and Xu Xin's hasty posture of stretching out the racket made him look like an unbalanced praying mantis.

The edge of the racket rubbed against the bottom of the ball, and the rubber made a sad "squeaking" sound.

Shaojie had already started diagonally. He saw clearly the path of the ball that was destined to go out of the table, but he still flew over to save the ball reflexively.

His sneakers made a sharp sound on the floor rubber, his body was almost parallel to the ground, and his racket reached the ball in the last centimeter.

"Snapped!"

This desperate smash should have ended the round, but Shaojie's little finger accidentally rubbed the edge of the table when he swung the racket.

The originally perfect hitting trajectory suddenly became skewed, and the ping-pong ball staggered like a drunk and hit the net, then rolled back to its side as everyone held their breath.

Amid the exclamations from the audience, Xu Xin saw Shaojie's right hand, which was supporting the table, trembling. It was the first time she saw her partner's "golden wrist" trembling on the court. The referee's raised hand gesture was like a knife, splitting the scoreboard to 5:4. The opponent was tapping his temple with his racket. That was the signature move they had studied, which was to put psychological pressure on the opponent.

The air on the court seemed to freeze. Xu Xin and Shao Jie's cooperation began to fall apart, and the originally tacit doubles rhythm was completely disrupted.

Xu Xin's loop ball lost its former accuracy, and Shaojie's attacks were often predicted by the opponent.

Every mistake was like a heavy hammer, hitting the confidence of both of them hard.

The coach stood up suddenly on the sidelines, his face livid. He knew that if this continued, the game would completely collapse.

The coach anxiously called a timeout on the sidelines.

He walked quickly in front of the two and said in a deep voice, "What are you afraid of? Has all your training been in vain? Keep your mind steady and catch up with every point!"

Xu Xin wiped the sweat off his face with a towel and nodded. Shaojie also took a deep breath and his eyes became firm again.

Back on the court, Xu Xin served. He threw the ping-pong ball up, flicked his wrist lightly, and the ball drew a low arc and landed accurately in the opponent's corner.

The opponent's return was hasty and of low quality. Shaojie seized the opportunity and made a fierce smash.

The moment the ping-pong ball bounced on the table, Shaojie's pupils suddenly contracted.

All the muscles in his body tensed as if they were hit by an electric current. He pushed the ground hard with his left foot, and his whole body suddenly released like a fully drawn bowstring.

The racket cuts through the air, making a sharp "whoosh" sound

"boom!"

A beam of white light exploded on the opponent's table. The ball almost embedded itself into the rubber surface the moment it touched the table, and then bounced towards the opponent's chest at an even more violent speed.

The opponent player retreated in panic and blocked the ball with his racket hastily, but the ping-pong ball seemed to be given life. It hit his racket handle hard, bounced high, and flew directly into the audience.

"nice shot!!!"

The whole venue was boiling instantly. Xu Xin and Shao Jie clapped their hands vigorously, and the crisp sound of their palms hitting each other seemed to ignite some dormant energy.

Xu Xin could feel that his partner's palms were no longer trembling, but were replaced by a familiar, reassuring strength. He caught a glimpse of Shaojie's mouth curled up in a long-lost arc - that was the expression they privately called "hunting moment".

The moment the referee announced "5:5", the opposing coach immediately called a timeout.

Xu Xin saw his opponent rubbing his numb right wrist vigorously, while their coach was gesturing frantically at the tactical board.

Flash lights lit up on the sidelines, freezing this moment: on one side there was panic as if facing a formidable enemy, and on the other side there was calmness as if regaining the rhythm.

"Keep pressing his backhand." Shaojie wiped the sweat off his face with his jersey, his voice so soft that only Xu Xin could hear it. "His center of gravity has begun to move backwards.

"Xu Xin nodded, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the almost invisible wear spot on the racket rubber.

That was a great hitting spot they discovered together.

"Good shot!" There was a warm cheer from the sidelines.

Xu Xin and Shao Jie high-fived each other to celebrate, as if they had found the familiar rhythm again.

In the following games, the two gradually stabilized their position.

Xu Xin's loop ball had strong rotation, and Shaojie's close-to-table quick attack was swift and powerful, and the score was gradually caught up.

With Xu Xin's signature "banana loop", the ping-pong ball drew an exaggerated S-shaped curve in the air, hit the opponent's corner of the table heavily and turned sideways rapidly.

The opponent barely managed to get the ball back, but saw Shaojie had already pounced on the net like a cheetah, and his racket drew a silver lightning under the light.

"Snapped!"

The air in the entire stadium seemed to freeze.

Xu Xin felt his eardrums beating violently with his heartbeat, and sweat slid down his brows into his eyes, stinging him painfully.

He saw the opponent repeatedly wiping the handle of his racket with the hem of his jersey. This subtle movement exposed his opponent's nervousness at the moment.

Before serving, Shaojie suddenly coughed.

This was their secret code - it meant to execute the killer move they had been practicing for three months.

Xu Xin nodded slightly and threw the ball high into the air.

Just as the ball fell, the lights on the top of the stadium suddenly flickered.

This accident caused Xu Xin's movement to be delayed by 0.1 seconds, and the originally planned backspin serve turned into an awkward sidespin.

The ping-pong ball swayed over the net like a drunk, and bounced significantly higher when it landed on the opponent's table.

"Oh no!" Xu Xin's heart sank.

Sure enough, the opponent's eyes lit up and he seized the opportunity to charge forward.

The ping-pong ball hit Xu Xin's face with a terrifying sound of breaking through the air. He instinctively turned his head to dodge, but heard a crisp "clang" sound behind him.

Shaojie had flown into the air without anyone noticing, his entire body almost lying horizontally above the table.

His wrist turned at an incredible angle, and the racket intercepted the fatal ball at the last moment.

The ping-pong ball rubbed against the rubber surface, producing blue smoke, and passed through the net in a trajectory that violated common sense of physics. It lightly rubbed against the opponent's table and rolled down silently.

Moreover, the ping-pong ball hit Xu Xin's face with a terrifying sound of breaking through the air. She instinctively turned her head to dodge, but heard a crisp "clang" sound behind her.

Shaojie had flown into the air without anyone noticing, his entire body almost lying horizontally above the table, the hem of his jersey fluttering, revealing his taut abdominal muscles.

His wrist turned at an incredible angle, and the racket intercepted the fatal ball at the last moment.

"Swish--" The ping-pong ball rubbed against the rubber surface, producing blue smoke, and passed through the net in a trajectory that violated common sense of physics.

The opposing player had already rushed to the net, but could only watch as the ball gently rubbed against the table and rolled down silently like a feather.

6: 5!

At the moment the electronic scoreboard started jumping, a boy in a red T-shirt suddenly stood up from the third row of the audience, waving a glow stick that drew a meteor-like trail in the air.

Xu Xin licked the sweat at the corner of his mouth, which was salty and tasted like rust - he didn't know when he had bitten through the inner wall of his mouth.

"Keep the pressure!" Shaojie panted as he brushed past him, his pupils behind his sports glasses shrank to the size of a needle tip.

The opposing player was repeatedly scraping the table with the edge of his racket. This small action, which was specially marked by their tactical analyst, meant that the opponent was beginning to experience "table anxiety."

The seventh round began after the referee blew the whistle.

Xu Xin deliberately spun the ball three more times when serving - this was a secret signal to Shaojie.

The ping-pong ball went over the net with twelve turns, and the opponent's racket made a painful "squeak" when the ball was returned.

Shaojie suddenly spun around like a ballet dancer, and at the moment of his backhand slam dunk, Xu Xin saw the three words "Life and Death Game" written in black marker faintly visible under the rubber of his racket, as if they were seared into Xu Xin's retina with a scorching temperature.

The ping-pong ball that was dunked exploded with a white light on the opponent's table, and the opponent's sneakers made a sharp and harsh sound as they rubbed against the floor rubber as he stumbled back.

Xu Xin suddenly noticed that the opponent player made a hidden gesture - tapping his index finger on the crotch of his pants three times.

This was a dangerous signal that they had marked in their pre-match video analysis, meaning that they had to activate "fighting mode."

Sure enough, the next serve came like a cannonball.

Xu Xin's palms were numb from the shock when he received the ball, and the return ball strangely fell a second time after it hit the net.

When Shaojie flew to save the ball, his knee hit the table hard, and there was a cry of surprise from the stands.

"Are you okay?" When Xu Xin reached out his hand, he saw blood oozing from the right knee of Shaojie's sweatpants.

Shaojie grinned, revealing his bloodstained teeth: "Just in time to wake up."

The opponent suddenly changed their strategy and continuously attacked Shaojie's injured right side.

The ping-pong ball was darting around on the table like a trapped animal. When Shaojie barely saved the ball again, Xu Xin saw the veins on his right hand bulging as he held onto the table.

The moment the ping-pong ball leaves your hand, the noise from the entire venue suddenly fades away.

Xu Xin saw the ball's rotation trajectory in the air become extremely clear, like snowflakes falling in slow motion. In his eyes, the opponent's catching action was broken down into countless frames. He raised his elbow 15 degrees, bent his wrist inward, and tilted the racket face.

"It's a fake move!" As soon as this judgment came to mind, Shaojie had already moved sideways as if he had predicted it.

When the opponent's return ball suddenly changed its line, Shaojie's racket was already waiting there. The moment the rubber touched the ball, Xu Xin heard his partner roar from his chest: "Go!"

The ping-pong ball turned into an afterimage, exploded on the opponent's table, and then bounced straight up, hitting the metal frame of the scoreboard behind it.

Amid the lingering sound of "clang", the referee raised his arm like a sharp sword splitting the air.

The score changed at this time, which made Xu Xin and Shao Jie stand still.

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(End of this chapter)